portraits – artistic photography – giving back

Tag Archives: lifestyle

I love watching my sister perform in dressage shows with her horse. It’s beautiful, artful and graceful. I don’t understand all the moves and the complex steps and lead changes and all.. but even to my ignorant eyes a girl and horse performing dressage is beautiful.
Notice in the picture above – no feet touching! That is dancing… or is it soaring?
I was so proud of my sister and her horse..! She was in two shows and got first place in the first and third in the second!
{beth}

I love reading. I’m obsessed with reading. I can literally keep myself entertained all day long if I have a good book. If you have been following me for awhile, you’ll know that I’m on a challenge of reading 52 books this year. That’s one a week. So far, I’m right on track! Here’s what I’ve been reading since my last update. (Click the book title to see it on amazon.)

#9 Sister Freaks Stories of Women Who Gave Up Everything For God by Rebecca St. James:

My birthday was on the 10th, and my family loves birthdays. We seriously do. It’s an event, a celebration.. time to be together and have fun.. do things we don’t normally do. My family really went all out for me and it made me feel so loved.
They know how much I adore cupcakes.. so that was the theme. And spring. Tulips.. hyacinths. :)
The name places were real tulips in miniature pots. The “dirt” was chocolate bunches. I probably ate a 1/4 of my dirt before dessert.
We played Yahtzee. I got second! And I never even got a yahtzee. And here’s where the Parrot comes in. See him on my dad’s back? His name is Tarzan.
He’s not very smart. He dances though. Makes you laugh like a fool cuz it looks so funny and cute. He’s a show off.
Like I said, they know my love for cupcakes. Check out the wrapping paper! Its just edible. :)
My cake. My littlest sister made it.. isn’t is beautiful?
All these pictures are iPhone.. as I forgot my camera at home. I’m starting to realize I do that a lot. =/ Anyway.. I had such a wonderful party with my amazing family.. I hope you all are blessed to have a family who loves you like mine does me.
Keep calm and have a cupcake!
-beth

Today is my birthday! And this year I’m asking for something a little different. Instead of presents, I’m asking for gifts for the children around the world through my gift catalog with World Vision. There’s a large variety of gifts to choose from: a goat, medicine, school books, fruit trees, clean water, a soccer ball… and the list goes on. If you feel lead to give towards my birthday catalog, please click HERE. Even if you don’t feel like this is the time or place for you to give personally, I have a request. Please share my gift catalog with your family and friends via Facebook, twitter, email, reblogging this or any other social media outlets. The more people who known about it, the more people who get a chance to give! This gifts are literally life changing and not just for the child who receives the gift, but for the whole community as well. It’s life changing for the giver, too.

“And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” Matthew 25:40

Happy World Water Day! How often do you stop and celebrate water? We use water endlessly. In our showers, coffee, washing dishes and laundry, cleaning our cars, and on and on. How often do you stop and appreciate that water is always at the reach of your hands, clean, uncontaminated, limitless water? I know I don’t often enough. I take it for granted. All my life it always was there. Always will be. But for over a billion people around the world, this is not a reality. People walk hours every day to retrieve water from ponds or water holes that are contaminated and seething with disease. They die from contaminated water. They lose hours every day fetching the water, hours that could be spent getting an education, or providing for their family.

Did you know that it take over 32 gallons of water to produce one egg? 256 gallons to produce one hamburger? 306 gallons to produce a bag of M’n’M’s? We don’t even realize how much water we indirectly consume every day… and where we would be if we were like the billion people in the world without it.

But there is hope. We can make a difference. We can provide clean water to our family around the world. It’s within our grasp to make a dent in the water crisis. Watch the video below to see how you can help.

Make a difference. Provide clean water. And thank God every day for the beautiful, fresh water dripping from your tap.
-beth

To purchase the photo in high resolution click HERE. 100% of the profits will be donated to charity:water.